tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-425662299326279184.post4691560042214625994..comments2024-01-14T14:32:42.397-05:00Comments on Family Matters: Dysentery and "Summer Complaint"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-425662299326279184.post-53046964890133366702018-12-15T22:23:16.921-05:002018-12-15T22:23:16.921-05:00"Summer complaint" was a catch-all term ..."Summer complaint" was a catch-all term used a century and more ago for food poisoning in very young kids. Typically it was toddlers that were stricken during their first summer after weaning. By that time they were being fed cow's milk from either family cows or a local dairy and there was no pasteurization done at that time and refrigeration was unknown. In the country they would lower the milk bottles into the well in a bucket to keep them cool; in the cities the bottles would be suspended out a window in a metal box. Both systems were incubators for bacteria, the kids would get sick, vomit, have diarrhea, become dehydrated and die. No IV fluids back then either. My maternal grandfather's baby sister died of Summer complaint at 9 months back in 1900. It was just part of life back then if you had kids. mereworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08748639262726997641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-425662299326279184.post-14318263659212615392013-08-13T22:55:30.668-04:002013-08-13T22:55:30.668-04:00Hello - I'm not related to the families you...Hello - I'm not related to the families you're researching (that I know of), but I also encountered the term "summer complaint" while doing research on my own family, and googled it, curious. This result came up. Thanks for the info, and for putting it in context. What a shame we didn't listen to Mr. Boyd all those years ago - maybe some more lives would have been saved.Junehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04072930107772815416noreply@blogger.com